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Black Mesa Science Team
The Black Mesa Science Team is the overwhelming majority of Black Mesa's population. With the Black Mesa Security Force, it is one of the most important bodies of the Black Mesa personnel. Overview Each scientist is granted a different security clearance specific to his or her duty, with an average clearance of Level 5. Like other employees, scientists have an assigned uniform, consisting of a blue shirt, white lab coat, red striped tie and white (or beige) slacks. In Opposing Force, a cleansuit-wearing variation of the normal scientist appears in limited areas. Some scientists are trained in the use of the MP5 submachine gun as part of Hazard Course training, but most have little or no combat skills or experience. In the Half-Life Audio Script, the scientists are described as follows: The scientists are brisk and businesslike; faced with the stress of fantastically improbable situations, they either devolve into hysterical panic and shock, or shield themselves with hyperrational analysis. They are your coworkers, mentors, and allies; although occasionally they are too busy to even notice you. When you are injured, they will inject healing agents, making them extremely important to your existence.[http://www.gamefront.com/files/20242965/Half_Life_Audio_Script Half-Life Audio Script] Positions *'Research and Development' - The largest portion of the scientists are assigned to research and development positions, where they conduct experiments and create new technologies. The research conducted ranges in focus from particle physics to biological study to space travel. Most R&D scientists have a limited knowledge of first aid, and can heal some wounds. *'Research Associate' - Research Associates work alongside R&D scientists, but with a lower status in the employment hierarchy. They are usually required to conduct the more mundane or less desirable portions of a given experiment. Dr. Gordon Freeman and Dr. Colette Green are notable research associates. *'Hazardous Environment Supervisor' - Supervisors act in a similar role to research associates in that they assist in experiments, but they are primarily concerned with maintaining a safe work environment. Dr. Gina Cross works in this position. *'Instructor' - Scientists will often take on additional work training employees and conducting simulations in the Sector A Training Facility, as themselves or their hologram counterparts. *'Survey Team' - Survey Teams were organized soon after the first teleportation labs were constructed in Black Mesa. Their assignment is the most dangerous, as they are tasked with entering the borderworld Xen to collect samples and conduct experiments. Because of the danger, Survey Team members are highly trained in the use of the HEV Suit and a variety of weapons. Many Survey Team scientists have died on Xen. Notable members *Gordon Freeman (Level 3 Research Associate) *Rosenberg (Advanced Physics Researcher) *Richard Keller (Level 5 Researcher) *Gina Cross (Level 4 Research Associate) *Colette Green (Level 4 Research Associate) *Wallace Breen (Administrator) *Isaac Kleiner (Sector C Researcher) *Eli Vance (Sector C Researcher) *Arne Magnusson (Sector C Researcher) *Complete list In-game Although cowardly and clumsy at times, scientists can assist the player with certain tasks, such as using retinal scanners to open doors. They also tend to be physically weak, dying within a few shots, as well as having no combat capabilities. They will stop following the player once they are too far away or if they are attacked while following him. Scientists have some first aid skills and will administer a 25-point medicine boost to a wounded player with a health level under 50. Cleansuit scientists do not have this ability. If one of them is attacked by the player, they will be afraid and run away from him (regardless if it was intentional or not). This is also the case if a scientist witnesses the player kill other scientists or security guards. They also say random, sometimes humorous sentences, most of the time when they are idle. Behind the scenes *Originally, all Black Mesa employees were to be hostile to the player. The Barney NPC was then used by Valve's AI programmer Steve Bond to run experiments in enemy squad behavior. By putting the player in the role of squad leader, and forcing Barney to follow instead of fight the player, Bond hoped for an easy way to test navigation rules. The unexpected result of this experiment was a working companion character, which instantly appealed to every playtester who saw Barney in action. This caused the team to rethink large portions of the story and Gordon's role in it, and the game was completely overhauled in late 1997. In that process of converting enemies to allies, the team also came to think about characters that were neither allies nor enemies to the player, leading to the creation of the G-Man. *Security guards and scientists were also to have a much more frightened, almost cartoonish face.Half-Life Beta *''Half-Life'' was also to feature female scientists other than the Holographic Assistant, that were to be found scarcely along the journey.[http://www.gamespot.com/features/halflife_old/page5.html Old Half-Life section] on GameSpot The texture files for the model can be found in the folder "f_science" (likely the name of the model) in the Half-Life: Source texture folder, but not in that of the original Half-Life. Female scientists were finally introduced in Decay, as Gina Cross and Colette Green, although Cross is mentioned in a Black Mesa Announcement System message at the start of Half-Life. Half-Life 2 features another yet unidentified female scientist, seen in the photograph in Kleiner's Lab. *There's a scientist seen talking to The G-Man in the Anomalous Materials chapter. *There are numerous unused audio files that were never heard in the retail Half-Life. Based on the amount of cut content, it is likely that Valve planned to feature unique scenes which involved at least one scientist. However, the majority of Half-Life was overhauled and these projects were most likely abandoned. Scientists list The scientist NPC features four standard models, with a cleansuit variant and the dead Survey Team members in HEV Suits found on Xen, as well as the Zombie version. Each four standard version has two HD versions (one introduced in the High Definition Pack, the other in Decay). Most of the time, scientist models are used randomly by the game. However, in many specific instances the same model is used each time. Trivia *Through a security camera, in the Blue Shift chapter Insecurity, a scientist can be seen briefly dancing to himself, while another is watching skeptically. The dancing animation was originally in the Gonome model, under the name "veryhappy" in the original model and "sohappy" in the Steam version. In the original scientist model, it is named "sohappy," and it's named "hambone" in the Steam version. *While scientists can heal the player only once, it is possible for same scientist to heal the player twice if they both go to the point where the next map loads. This will allow the player to be healed for 50 health points in total, which is useful on hard difficulties (where the syringe used by scientists is not dependent on difficulty and it always gives 25 health points) or in areas where the Medkits are rare. Gallery Pre-release Alien slave2.jpg|Concept of an Alien Slave eating a scientist. Early scientist concept.jpg|Concept art for a scientist, with a rat. Clean suit scientist concept Black Mesa Science Team.jpg|Concept art for the clean suit scientist. 0047-experiment1.JPG|Scientist near a blue Panther Eye held in an experiment lab. F science.png|Texture files for the cut female scientist from the Half-Life: Source files. She appears frightened, as most of the old scientist face textures. Alpha scientists black gloves.jpg|Scientist Models with black gloves. Scientist dead blood.png|Scientist with an unused wound texture found in the Half-Life: Source files. Bullchicken white.jpg|White Bullsquid about to attack a scientist. Bullsquid guard.jpg|Early Bullsquid eating Black Mesa employees. HECU scientist beatup.jpg|HECU soldiers beating up a scientist. HECU Beating Up Scientists Half Life.JPG|Ditto. 0009-beatup2.JPG|Ditto. Ichthyosaur beta scientist Half Life.jpg|Ichthyosaur attacking a scientist in an early version of the CenCom Reservoir. There are no scientists there in the final version. Panther eye-scientist.jpg|Panther Eye about to eat a scientist. 0015-scientists crates.JPG|Scientists and crates. Hl early BJ 34.jpg|Ironic sign and killed scientist in the same room. 0006-sci panther.JPG|Scientist about the be attacked by a Panther Eye. 0004-early lab1.JPG|Scientists and MP guards. 0003-sci outside.JPG|Scientists in the outside, including their shadows, a removed feature. Scientist glass.jpg|Shattered glass falling on a scientist. Weird sci.jpg|Possible early scientist model beating a soda machine. Retail Half-Life Black Mesa lobby.jpg|Scientist and security guard in the Sector C entrance hall. AnomalousMaterialsResearchTeam.jpg|Scientists in Sector C. C1a0002.jpg|Scientist and the G-Man discussing behind a window. Test-chamber-ctrl.jpg|Scientists in the upper Anti-Mass Spectrometer Control Room. Scientist revive.jpg|Scientist attempting to revive a security guard right after the Resonance Cascade. Eli help.jpg|Eli Vance talking to another scientist after the Resonance Cascade. Eli Vance talk HL1.jpg|Eli Vance telling Gordon to head to the surface. HL BMRF OfficeComplex.jpg|A Headcrab and a dead scientist in the Black Mesa Office Complex. C1a4i0001.jpg|Tentacle taking away a scientist in Silo D. Scanner-lambda-core.jpg|Scientist operating a retinal scanner at the entrance of the Lambda Complex. C3a2a0001.jpg|Vortigaunts "communicating" over a scientist corpse in the Lambda Complex. Shotgun scientist HL.jpg|The shotgun scientist and a security guard, [[:File:Kleiner shotgun.jpg|mirrored in Half-Life 2]]. Longjump lambda.jpg|Scientist introducing the Long Jump Module. Survey member dead weapon box Xen.jpg|Dead Survey Team member in Gonarch's Lair. C4a20001.jpg|Ditto. Zombie Scientist.jpg|Zombie scientist. Half-Life: Uplink Uplink scientists firing squad.jpg|HECU soldiers in combat. Half-Life: Opposing Force Of1a10004.jpg|Scientist examining a Headcrab. We Are Pulling Out4.jpg|A scientist fears for his life while being interrogated by a HECU grunt. Vicarious Reality2.jpg|Holographic scientist. S. jones.jpg|S. Jones's corpse. S. reardon.jpg|S. Reardon's corpse. Crush Depth2.jpg|Clean suit scientist rescued by Adrian Shephard. SIGN CLNSUIT.png|Clean suit sign. Black Mesa clean suit.svg|Black Mesa logo as seen on the clean suits. Half-Life: Blue Shift Living Quarters Outbound2.jpg|Scientist hindering Barney's ride to work. BS scientists lab.jpg|Several scientists in a modern laboratory along the Transit System. Prax1.jpg|Security guard and scientist playing Prax Wars 2: Dante's Revenge in a lavomat along the Transit System. Laundromat waiting.jpg|Scientist in civilian clothes reading The Mesa Times while waiting for his laundry in a lavomat along the Transit System. Shirts dry.jpg|Scientist shirts waiting to be picked up in a lavomat along the Transit System. Insecurity.jpg|Scientist threatening a security guard. My files.jpg|Ditto. Dancing scientist1.jpg|Scientist seen dancing through a security camera. Dancing scientist2.jpg|Ditto. Ba maint0000.jpg|Scientists working on a malfunctioning computer. Mesa times scientist.jpg|Scientist reading The Mesa Times on a Transit System platform in Sector C. Suv magnum2.jpg|Abandoned Black Mesa SUV, with a dead scientist and security guard. Dead HEV scientist on Xen.jpg|Dead Survey Team scientist on Xen. Ba xen20008.jpg|Ditto, underwater. Ba xen50001.jpg|Survey team equipment on Xen. Ba xen50002.jpg|Ditto, with crystal being studied. Half-Life: Decay Walter frightened decay.jpg|The "Walter" scientist model in a frightened pose. Half-Life 2 Photo group001a2.png|The Anomalous Materials team posing before the Black Mesa Incident. Advertisement C1A0 FLIPSIGN6.png|"Working as a team!". Black Mesa Science Team advertisement. Ba propaganda2.png|"Success!". Black Mesa Science Team advertisement. Propaganda 02.png|"Do your part!". Clean suit advertisement. List of appearances *''Half-Life: Day One'' *''Half-Life'' *''Half-Life: Uplink'' *''Half-Life: Opposing Force'' *''Half-Life: Blue Shift'' *''Half-Life: Decay'' *''Half-Life 2'' *''Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar'' *''Half-Life 2: Lost Coast'' *''Half-Life 2: Episode One'' *''Half-Life 2: Episode Two'' References Category:Pages containing wikitables Category:Half-Life Category:Half-Life: Opposing Force Category:Half-Life: Blue Shift Category:Half-Life: Decay Category:Factions Category:Black Mesa personnel Category:Allies Category:Chuck Jones designs Category:HEV Suit users